Last spring he said he thought Michigan could contend for a national championship. Earlier this season, he said the same thing.

On Tuesday, the Michigan All-American point guard continued to walk the walk, putting up 19 points and 5 assists as No. 3 Michigan cruised past Binghamton, 67-39, to improve to 10-0 for just the third time in school history.

Afterward, Burke continued to maintain that his club is one of the top teams in America, he's not too concerned about who knows it, and that he plans on making sure the Wolverines continue to prepare like they're a national-title contender each and every day.

"We've got the same goal as everybody has in mind. To play in March, and go deep in March. But another good thing about this team is that we understand that we have a lot of areas to work on, we understand our strengths and our weaknesses, and we play to those."

Michigan entered Tuesday's game against lowly Binghamton as a 38-point favorite. The Wolverines were expected to grind the Bearcats into dust.

And they did.

From the outset of the season, Burke's mindset has been businesslike. He doesn't care who Michigan's playing, he doesn't care if anyone thinks the Wolverines have played a weak schedule or are overrated at No. 3 in America.

He's busy trying to win games, and after experiencing a heartbreaking loss last season, he's not about to let anyone else on the roster drop their guard.

"We don't go into the game thinking we're going to blow a team out," Burke said. "We learned our lesson with that last year (against Ohio in the NCAA tournament), we know that on any given night, we can get beat. That's the biggest thing.

"We do a good job of coming out and giving everyone our best shot from the get-go."

Michigan was far from perfect Tuesday against Binghamton. Tim Hardaway Jr. struggled with his shot. The Wolverines started slow, trailing by two seven minutes into the game. There were sloppy turnovers here and there, and a few defensive missteps.

But Michigan won by 30 -- because, that's what elite teams are supposed to do.

Michigan coach John Beilein hasn't bought into any of the Wolverines' early-season hype so far. He's not impressed by the ranking, he doesn't really care about being 10-0 either.

But when it comes to Burke declaring that the Wolverines are elite, Beilein's on board.

He wants his team to feel that way, and prepare that way regardless of the opponent.

This is Trey Burke's team. And if he says Michigan's elite, then Beilein has no problem backing him.

"We were playing Binghamton, they were 2-8 and we had the exact same preparation we did for Arkansas," Beilein said. "Trey has that elite mind. He's saying 'I want to embrace this every day, and be the best I can be every day.'